2012 will be my first year attending and I have been reading the Survival Guide thoroughly. But I've noticed something that's not mentioned.

Are you allowed to burn things like used cardboard items, ruined clothing, etc.? (that aren't going to send yucky stuff into the atmosphere of course)

I know you're not allowed to have a fire directly on the playa...so would it be a better idea to bring a fire pit or just use an old metal garbage can?I was thinking about bringing the Garbage can because i can fit a lot of fire wood in it to bring, then take it out and use it to burn the wood in.Good idea?

Please excuse me for not knowing much about 'burning etiquette' (no pun intended)

Love,Bri <3

"One good thing about music: When it hits you - you feel no pain" - Bob Marley

There are burn barrels around the camping areas that you can use to burn cardboard and other paper-like materials. As far as clothes go, you can donate them to the Black Rock Boutique so some poor half naked burner will have some clothes to wear should the need arise!

These are aimed specifically at Theme Camps, but there are some good guidelines here, including safe perimeters, distance off the ground, height limits, how much water you must have on hand, & what can lead to the extinguishing or confiscation of your burn barrel:http://www.burningman.com/installations ... camps.html

I have pondered bringing my fire pit for camp fires in the evening but two issues arise for me. The first and foremost is making sure someone is there to watch the fire, and who wants to be tied to one area while on playa? Second - the ash issues. You cannot dump the wood ashes (or any ashes) on the playa -which means you must bag, box, or some other way haul your ashes off playa. Perhaps a few 5 gallon buckets with tight lids would work. I just think it's a hassle beyond me at this point (2012 will be my 4th burn).

However, if you insist on bringing your firepit, fire can, or whatever, I suggest you read this page throughly:

Fires and burning things at camp is covered someplace in there (between the first timer's and survival guides), but do see the links in Savannah's post. If you bring a burn barrel, make sure it's elevated (if not just leave it at home). As for ruined clothing (?), it'd need to be natural, untreated fabrics, otherwise burning's a no and you'd need to pack it out.

The enviro-nazi in me suggests that maybe cardboard would be best handled by packing it out and recycling it. There are alot of options for recycling in Reno (if you pass through there.) The spend-thrift in me questions whether the playa ruins clothing badly enough to burn it. I have some things that I've made into rags, others that I wear when I need to get dirty. Most clothes have synthetic components that you wouldn't want to burn. Since your ash needs to be hauled out anyway, I'd just assume pack out cardboard or clothes rather than try to clean up the ash created in their incineration. Another option, don't bring in the cardboard in the first place. One of my favorite pre-Burn activities is getting rid of as much packaging as I can before I show up. You can put food in reusable storage containers, pack stuff into crates or coolers, etc. I'm a light smoker, so I take the shrink wrap and foil pull tabs out of my packs before I leave. De-mooping yourself pre-Burn saves alot of time in the long run.

Good for you for getting prepared and doingthe required learning! We need more virgins of your sort!

Thanks to everybody for the wonderful links and advice! I guess I won't be bringing my own burn barrel Good advice getting rid of the MOOP before I even leave the house! Things like mac n' cheese and such can be put into zip lock baggies first I suppose.Hope to see all of you on the playa!

love,Bri<3

"One good thing about music: When it hits you - you feel no pain" - Bob Marley

How exactly does "Leave no trace" work for international participants?

I'm from England and I'm considering attending this year, but I'm struggling to work out the logistics of "leaving no trace." For Americans, although they might have a really long drive, surely anything they need to take away from the campsite can be packed into the car and taken with them. However, for those of us flying...what on earth do we do with anything we don't need at the end of the week? I mean we can hardly take everything (camp stoves, tents, empty gas bottles etc) back on the plane with us...baggage restrictions, ya know?

You can offer any usable supplies and camping gear to people who are camping near you. Most everyone would be happy to take that type of thing. As far as trash, there is a dumpster in Gerlach, (the town outside the event) and you can pay a few dollars and dump your trash there. I think they charge $5.00 per bag.

How exactly does "Leave no trace" work for international participants?

I'm from England and I'm considering attending this year, but I'm struggling to work out the logistics of "leaving no trace." For Americans, although they might have a really long drive, surely anything they need to take away from the campsite can be packed into the car and taken with them. However, for those of us flying...what on earth do we do with anything we don't need at the end of the week? I mean we can hardly take everything (camp stoves, tents, empty gas bottles etc) back on the plane with us...baggage restrictions, ya know?

Please help!

it works exactly the same as it does for the 15,000+ burners who fly in (or take the train,.. or bus) for burning man from the USA.. no different.

I can fit my entire camp in to two bags (one of which could be accepted as a 'carry on' in the USA).... I don't really see why anyone else wouldnt be able to do the same (barring availability of items and cost.. of course)

in the past I have used a slightly larger bag and brought nearly all of my food with me (sealed shelf stable stuff which should be fine for international travelers) in one of the bags (which means all of the "trash" from that food would also fit in the bag.. with extra room to spare)

I don't see why you would throw away or want to get rid of camping gear that had basically been used once...

Yes.. you can take your tent with you if its small enough. And, at least within the USA (dont know about international departures) you can bring used or new gaseous fuel based stoves with you (propane, butane..etc) .. and UNused brand new liquid fuel based stoves with you in your baggage (kerosene, gasoline, white gas..etc)

You'll need to arrange for purchase/pick up of fuel at your destination whether your international or on a domestic flight.. (I send mine legally via USA postal mail to burning man and it gets delivered to my camp at the festival)

As for trash.. anything thats paper/cardboard can be burned (or probably shouldnt be brought to the event in the first place). One person, in my experience.. is likely to create at most about 2-3 cubic feet of trash.. This is well within a respectable and acceptable limit to leave at the hotel many people are likely to stay at.. about 3 'grocery bags' worth.

As for your recycling stuff, such as water containers and aluminum cans.. in the past my helpful neighbors who ARE driving in a car were more than willing to help me out by hauling out the 3 or 4 plastic water containers.. and the aluminium cans can be taken to the recycling camp at the event itself.

Basically.. you have to treat it as if youre going mountain climbing.. You buy small stuff, you plan to have as little amount of waste as possible... and where you can do it respectfully you have some people with greater means help you out.

all of this crap goes into the small cooler... (toiletries, gloves..burner gear..)

my kitchen...

At the end of the burn I bring ALL of my stuff home with me.. I leave 2-3 small grocery bags of trash in my hotel and I have very little feeling that I am missing anything with the minimal amount of stuff i bring..

You can do it!!! You just gotta.. learn how to pack lightly.. buy small stuff meant for backpacking/mountaineers and use yer head.

Here is a thread i started talking about the crap I pack for flying in/training in to burning man in about 65pounds worth of gear (including buncha camera crap)

@BeyondIndigo - as others have pointed out… you Leave No Trace, regardless of where you're coming from. Whether you choose to ship some equipment home (to spare you the hassle of bringing it on the plane with you), store it locally, give it away or donate it (though I imagine charity shops in Reno might not take equipment that wasn't clean and dust-free), or throw it away (there are various dump locations in and around Reno), you need to take it with you from the event, and leave your campsite in the same or better condition than it was when you arrived.

late wrote:what do you do for shade? Are you in a group and use another's shade, or do you just not sleep during the day? From my little desert camping experience, that sun + tent=solar oven

Or do you have aluminet in there somewhere to cover your tent?

--Alex

I usually work during the day..... (you might not...) and dont spend much time by my tent..Im usually out of it before it gets hot. The time i do spend in my tent is usually sitting in the doorway/vestibule area .. a bit of sun but im not spending my whole day there...

I am with a group that has shade.....a lot of it in fact.. to the point where after a few days working in the shade I find myself noting how FUCKIN HOT it is when I have a day off from work and actually end up walking around in the sun... to which my camp mates say "its been hot all week.. youve just been in the shade.."

But even if you aren't in a camp with shade theres more shade out there than you can shake a stick at.. and most places that are open to the public have their shade open to the public as well... and your neighbors might love you hangin around as well in the shade they brought..

I commonly go to common public shade structures to cook my lunch and have a bit of a chat... More so for the chat than the shade, to be honest..

I am lucky enough to have a lot of resources at my disposal when I get to the event site.. In 2011 I had a supreme luxury of added shade over my doorway of my tent without having to bring anything (again.. i dont really sleep during the day so much).. I used two scrap pieces of 2x4" wood and a peice of unused fabric from a huge pile that we had:

Just the place where I camp alone has easily 3000sq+ feet of shade structure (of which 2000+ is public space for any burner to enjoy) and theres TONS of camps at burning man.

If you want to sleep all day theres plenty of places to do that if you cant tolerate the heat in your tent... for reals.

edit: camping next to large structures/trucks/vehicles/RV's helps avoid the sun as well.. in the past this has kept the sun off my tent up until 10:30am or so..

depending on your needs in camp, and the stuff that surrounds you there comes a point where 'radical self reliance' can end up being 'radical redundancy' ...again im lucky to be with a group that has shade as part of our infrastructure but even before I was (and even now) I spent tons of time in other peoples camps with their ample shade and fun conversation...

This reminds me!!

Stop on by the Lamplighters Lounge generally located Behind the Center Camp Cafe across from the Mural Wall for our daily (recruitment) party from 3pm to 5pm ...featuring nice yummie alcoholic beverages and good times with one of Burning Mans OLDEST running art projects, groups and theme camps. (since 1993)..

At 5pm the lounge will close and we will begin our work of lighting the citys rougly 5miles worth of lamp posts with our 700+ kerosene lanterns.. and we need your help! Lighting with the lamplighters is one of the BEST ways for newbies and oldbies alike to take part in making something happen at burning man.. just a few hours and quite fun

Plenty of shade (and couches) to go around!

Or, stop by any other time.. the lounge is closed from 5:00pm - 8:30pm as we are working to light the city but beyond that It is one of the best lounges on the playa! Yummie drinks, friendly people a snazzy viewing deck centrally located in the heart of the city and oh yeah.. lots of shade..

You know, for some reason it just didn't occur to me that some people travelling within the US might even have the same problem if they are travelling by public transport or flying internally. I kind of assumed that the vast majority brought cars. I don't know why I assumed that.

You know, for some reason it just didn't occur to me that some people travelling within the US might even have the same problem if they are travelling by public transport or flying internally. I kind of assumed that the vast majority brought cars. I don't know why I assumed that.

It never really crossed my mind either. I'm from South-Easternish Montana so it's only an 18 hour drive for me to get to the playa!

"One good thing about music: When it hits you - you feel no pain" - Bob Marley

The talk of Burn PLatforms/Burn barrels might be confounding to some folks so here is a helpful image and some more info:

#1: Don't put your shit in some camps burn barrel without permission. #2: Not every burn barrel is intended for burning your trash #3: make sure your shit is well contained.. Dont cause flaming debris and ashes to fly all over the place#4: dont overload burn barrels.. they can get very full on Sunday/Monday! (see #3)

The Cauldron in front of the Center Camp Cafe is not for your trash... But, you are encouraged to stoke the fire.. and throw some of the usually nearby logs on the fire if its getting low..

If you are planning to burn your burnables/camp at the end of the event use one of the PUBLIC burn pyres usually located at the locations marked with the RED ARROWS:

dont put your trash in the one marked with the blue arrow.. and if they are there.. the burn barrels located in some of the plazas are not intended for burning huge amounts of trash.

(locations and amount of public burn platforms/pyres may change in 2012.. the above info was pretty much true for 2011)